A town centre church in Bexleyheath has undergone a £220,000 makeover to fit new electric doors, a new lift and a special counselling room.

Over the past 18 months works have been taking place at Geddes Place United Reformed Church, in Broadway, to rejuvenate the facility which is used by hundreds of people each week in community groups and clubs.

Although the church cannot be extended the congregation have been making the best use of the space they have.

Church secretary Paul Ayliffe, , 72, of Oaklands Close, Bexleyheath said: "Around 27 years ago we had a big problem with the church, it was built of Kentish ragstone which started to crumble.

"We looked at fixing it but the bill would have been too expensive.

"We ended up selling off some of our site to a developer that wanted to build some shops and that is now where Nando's is.

"The developer gave us enough money to rebuild the church. We didn't have enough funding to do everything we wanted to do so we have done work bit by bit over the years.

Mr Ayliffe, who has attended the church for 40 years, added: "Our whole approach has been to use the facility for the community.

"We have tried to make it as accessible as possible to all groups and disabled people and to comply with all the required accessibility standards.

"The church only has a small congregation of about 40 people but the building is used everyday of the week by outside groups.

"As well as the lift, electric doors and counselling room and we have improved the kitchen facilities and produced a café upstairs which we intend to open as a coffee bar and we want to extend the facilities over time."

"The church has raised the majority of the capital for the renovations from its own fund and from generous public donations, we are grateful everyone who has contributed."

For more information on the church call 020 8303 5849.